This invention relates to a method of target aimpoint location, specifically, but not exclusively, to skeleton aimpoint location as may be implemented on parallel processing devices.
We have proposed a target tracking system in which digitized image of a target and its background are formed and then the image is processed to form a skeletal image of the target. The terms skeleton and skeletal image used herein mean an image comprising one or more linear elements forming a kind of "stick figure" representation of the original image. In the embodiment to be described, this "stick figure" representation comprises horizontal and vertical linear elements, one pixel across. These elements corresponding to features such as a central area and lobes of the target image. At least approximately, the linear elements are centered symmetrically between boundaries of the target at the two sides of the element. In this embodiment, the skeleton incorporates substantially all the information contained in the original image, i.e. the original image could be reproduced from the skeleton. This follows from an algorithm used to form the skeleton.
It may be desirable to assign a specific pixel within the target image, namely the center-of-gravity or centroid of the image, as an aimpoint for a weapon being guided onto the target.